La Jolla Cove
is a world famous dive site and once you dive there you'll soon
discover why. La Jolla Cove is located in the La Jolla ecological
preserve which means no harm can be done to any plant or animal
within it. The wildlife seems to know this and the Cove is always
teeming with marine life. Some of the biggest fish I have ever seen
have been in the cove. It is an excellent place to dive for all
skill levels of divers. The average depth is around 15-30 feet and
can get deeper as you travel towards the outer cove. The visibility
is usually worse there than any other popular dive site due to it's
location but when it's good, it's really good ( but when it's bad,
it's extremely bad). The Cove is used for both day and night diving,
night dives are excellent there and on a clear night you can look
up and see the moon through the surface of the water. There are
also hundreds of lobster which live within the shelter of the cove,
you can't catch them or you'll get arrested but they're fun to look
at. I once spotted a lobster that was at least 10 lbs within the
Cove. The Cove is not only just a popular spot for divers, swimmers
use it as well as snorkelers so you can imagine the problems on
a crowded day. There are always major parking problems there so
my advice is to dive there in the morning before anyone gets there.
Night diving is no problem for parking since everyone is asleep.
I can't begin to describe the diving at the cove on a good day,
it is outstanding. The Cove is also one of the only places where
you are guarenteed to see something. Never has there been a dive
there when I went home dissapointed. The only major problem with
the cove is the stairs you must climb to get to the water and back.
As you can see in the photo above there aren't very many but they're
steep. I really hate those stairs. The good part is that at the
top of those stairs lies a large
grassy changing area with bathrooms and showers. You could probably
compare the Cove to a shore version of kelp diving if there is such
a thing. It's a dive you definately want to make and you'll never
forget it. Check out the photographs below for more close up shots
of La Jolla Cove.